Shadow of Night

A Novel

By: Deborah Harkness

Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda

The #1 New York Times bestselling sequel to A Discovery of Witches, book two of the All Souls series.

Look for the hit series “A Discovery of Witches,” now streaming on AMC+, Sundance Now, and Shudder!

Picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night takes reluctant witch Diana Bishop and vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont on a trip through time to Elizabethan London, where they are plunged into a world of spies, magic, and a coterie of Matthew's old friends, the School of Night. As the search for Ashmole 782—the lost and enchanted manuscript whose mystery first pulled Diana and Matthew into one another's orbit—deepens and Diana seeks out a witch to tutor her in magic, the net of Matthew's past tightens around them. Together they find they must embark on a very different—and vastly more dangerous—journey.

“A captivating and romantic ripping yarn,”* Shadow of Night confirms Deborah Harkness as a master storyteller, able to cast an “addictive tale of magic, mayhem and two lovers.”*



*Chicago Tribune

Historical fiction rich in historical detail!

What made the experience of listening to Shadow of Night the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed this more than "A Discovery of Witches", which I enjoyed immensely.

What other book might you compare Shadow of Night to and why?

Ellis Peters' historical fiction due to the authors' ability to make distant-past historical personalities come to life through engaging dialogue that remains faithful to historically known personality traits.

Which character ??? as performed by Jennifer Ikeda ??? was your favorite?

John Dee

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I actually felt concern for the protagonists... which is something that doesn't happen often for fictional characters.

Excellent sequel!

I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel and became even more attatched to Matthew and Diana in this book. Deborah Harkness has topped herself, expanding on her writing and this story in an impressive way! For me, my favorite part of a (multi-installment) story is usually the first part where the characters initially forge their relationship ("get together"). Most of the time, it is hard to "top" that part of the story, even in well-written, imaginative stories. However, this time it's different. I enjoyed Matthew and Diana's relationship as an already-established couple even more in this book. In a way, it felt like "coming home" to spend time with old friends. Of course, their relationship is not the only factor in this story...I felt it was very well-paced and intrigueing with all of the added characters. I did not find the descriptions or detail over-done, instead it was just enough to set the atmosphere and make me feel like I was really there. There are many added characters and scenes that make this an engrossing story. I really enoyed the homecoming to (meet) Matthew's father Phillipe and how he is actually different from first perception and he does so much for Matthew and Diana. I also enjoyed the scenes with Queen Elizabeth and the hints at her jealousy of Matthew's affections and their past relationship but the author never takes it any further. For brief moments I thought I wanted more detail into this aspect of the story, or for Diana to deal with jealousy or to at least ask Matthew about it. Then I realized that the author (under good instinct) just didn't feel she needed to spend any more time on that. It seems we are not to doubt Matthew's devotion to Diana at all. We know (as does Diana) he has a lot in his past...The narration by Jennifer Ikeda is great, as usual. She really is spot on for Diana and all the characters. I highly recommend this sequel, it is one of my favorite books of the year!

Major plot hole

If you could sum up Shadow of Night in three words, what would they be?

1) Enjoyable 2) Frustrating 3) Hopeful. I generally enjoyed the book, but I'm very irate that I spent almost two hours going back and forth through the chapters thinking that I'd some how completely missed the section where Marcus and Phobe's relationship developed, and more importantly, learn about what happened to Emily. Most frustrating experience I've ever had with a book that I'd been enjoying.

I finally figured out that I wasn't the one who'd missed something after searching the internet for answers (very strong and colourful language was used to express other people's frustration, which I mentally gave a thumbs' up to!). It just wasn't there to be found. Either the publishing company dropped an incredibly important chapter, or the author forgot to write it. Against my better judgement, I've purchased the final book in the series - I hope to get some answers, but I'll never get the two hours back of wasted time searching for content that wasn't there!

Why does Diana turn into a whiny little girl?

The first book portrays Diana as a strong educated woman. As the series continues she becomes more and more annoying - like a young whiny girl who CANNOT handle anything. She behaves like everyone should treat her like a child and she is so fragile. Meanwhile she’s supposed to be getting stronger as a witch. It was very annoying many times. I continued to listen b

Just as good if not better than the first

The only thing I was disappointed in is I have to wait for the third book to come out.